White spot on Harlequin Tusk

[wnehez]

Hello everyone. There is a white spot on my harlequin tusk that seems to be getting bigger. I am not sure what it is. I know its not ich, I know what that looks like. It looks like its a wound but why would a wound be getting bigger? He does not do anything lately except lay on the sand bed. Its getting me worried because yester he stopped eating. I added an airstone trying to get more oxygen in there and also I am running carbon and phosphate remover in a LF 150 constantly on the tank in the sump. I have a skimmer running also. I checked parameters and they are as follows:

Am - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 20
Ph- I forget the nuumber but it was the one above 0, not by much tho.
Temp- usually kept about 80-82
PH -8.2

Because of these readings and the facct that other fish are not suffering, I cannot blame it on that which keeps the question open. I dont know what it is. Its about the size of the round side of a thumb tack now. His breathing doesnt seem elevated it seems normal. I am open to all ideas. Please advise.

 

[Painted skin]

Picture would be helpful, right now it's like telling a mechanic I heard a weird noise coming from the engine. Best guess can only be established.

My best guess would it's either fungal or bacteria infection, there are effective medication that will treat both. Maybe someone can suggest a good one for you as I never had to treat my fish for bacteria only for fungus.

IMO bring down your nitrate and your temp is a bit high, not sure why you have to run your tank at 80 or 82..?

 

[wnehez]

See white circle

 

[wnehez]

My buddy who is amazing with saltwater tanks told me that it is a nitrogen problem. He said somewhere there is water not flowing. A tube or pipe or place in the rocks that water is not moving. He suggested putting extra powerheads in place at the bottom of the tank and point them up. Gotta get more movement. This is going to be tricky because I am scared of swishing the sand up. I did this in my old tank and I lost a good portion of my fish. I was soo young and dumb back then. Thought I could vacuum diatom bloom off sand. So he said this is why the fish is not swimming nor eating. My GF said she just put food in the tank, the harlequin came up swimming, but he is swimming weird (her words) and didnt eat anything. Looked at the food, But did not bite. Then went back to lay down. My nitrates are only at 20 though and no other fish is having problems. I mean granted he is fairly new, had him about two weeks now, maybe more.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Picture would be helpful, right now it's like telling a mechanic I heard a weird noise coming from the engine. Best guess can only be established.

My best guess would it's either fungal or bacteria infection, there are effective medication that will treat both. Maybe someone can suggest a good one for you as I never had to treat my fish for bacteria only for fungus.

IMO bring down your nitrate and your temp is a bit high, not sure why you have to run your tank at 80 or 82..?

Nitrate at 20 won't bother fish at all, 20ppm is actually on the low side for a FOWLR tank. Fish can handle nitrate at a much higher level than this. Nitrate is more of an invert problem, but excessively high nitrate (say >60-80ppm, can indicate a housekeeping problem. Temp of 80-82 isn't going to hurt anything either.
To the OP
An airstone doesn't put all those bubbles into the water; all it does is disturb the surface so gas exchange can take place. Any tank with decent flow and circulation doesn't have an an oxygen problem. I have no idea what your friend means by a "nitrogen" problem. A dead ,flow area in the LR wouldn't bother a fish like this.

All that said; I doubt that water conditions have anything to do with your tusk. Sometimes, we want to blame everything on the water. I don't know if the white spot is related to the other problems the fish is having. Does the spot look infected? Is it growing? How long have you had this fish? Has the tank been treated with a wormer, like Prazi-Pro? Is this fish being bullied? We need a real description of the fish's behavior and history, and you should probably quarantine the fish.

 

[wnehez]

Well I'm not blaming my water, I am just trying to figure out whats going on with him.. I wanted one for a long time and finally said go for it. I got him, he got beat up by my sailfin for a little but then that stopped. When it stopped, he was still eating and swimming well. He seems to come out a little more at night. I noticed last night that he came out swimming. Didnt see him this morning but I am keeping the lights off since thats when I see him swim. Maybe he likes the dark better. But I am going to keep the lights off for him to heal and hopefully he gets better. Did a small water change last night and plan on doing a bigger one tonight.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Folks would like to help, but if you don't answer questions, we can't. Unless this fish is new, this probably isn't going to just go away by itself. An established fish does not have problems swimming or eating unless something is wrong.

 

[wnehez]

Nitrate at 20 won't bother fish at all, 20ppm is actually on the low side for a FOWLR tank. Fish can handle nitrate at a much higher level than this. Nitrate is more of an invert problem, but excessively high nitrate (say >60-80ppm, can indicate a housekeeping problem. Temp of 80-82 isn't going to hurt anything either.
To the OP
An airstone doesn't put all those bubbles into the water; all it does is disturb the surface so gas exchange can take place. Any tank with decent flow and circulation doesn't have an an oxygen problem. I have no idea what your friend means by a "nitrogen" problem. A dead ,flow area in the LR wouldn't bother a fish like this.

All that said; I doubt that water conditions have anything to do with your tusk. Sometimes, we want to blame everything on the water. I don't know if the white spot is related to the other problems the fish is having. Does the spot look infected? Is it growing? How long have you had this fish? Has the tank been treated with a wormer, like Prazi-Pro? Is this fish being bullied? We need a real description of the fish's behavior and history, and you should probably quarantine the fish.

Sorry, For some reason I did not see your questions. I am not sure if it looks infected, never had to deal with that. Theres a picture above with the spot circled. It did seem to get a little bigger over the past 3 days. I have had the fish for about 2-3 weeks. No I did not try a wormer because I have no idea what it was so I did not want to throw stuff in for something I dont know what it is. The fish was bullied when first introduced but that has stopped 2-3 days after he was introduced. The fish just will go to the corner of the tank and lay down. I described his behavior in my first post I believe. I said he is not breathing heavily. He just acts lazy. He did come out to eat at first but now he just comes out and looks at the food and then goes back and lays down. He hasnt eaten in 2-3 days now. I am waiting for feeding time today to hear if he eats anything. And thanks for the suggestion of QT him, but I do not QT. Just a personal preference. If it turns out to be something only treatable with a QT, then I would figure something out. But I know a lot of medicine is reef safe so like I said, When I figure out what it is, then I will take the appropriate steps. Right now, I'm just trying to get some ideas of what it is and what steps are next.

 

[wnehez]

Nitrate at 20 won't bother fish at all, 20ppm is actually on the low side for a FOWLR tank. Fish can handle nitrate at a much higher level than this. Nitrate is more of an invert problem, but excessively high nitrate (say >60-80ppm, can indicate a housekeeping problem. Temp of 80-82 isn't going to hurt anything either.
To the OP
An airstone doesn't put all those bubbles into the water; all it does is disturb the surface so gas exchange can take place. Any tank with decent flow and circulation doesn't have an an oxygen problem. I have no idea what your friend means by a "nitrogen" problem. A dead ,flow area in the LR wouldn't bother a fish like this.

All that said; I doubt that water conditions have anything to do with your tusk. Sometimes, we want to blame everything on the water. I don't know if the white spot is related to the other problems the fish is having. Does the spot look infected? Is it growing? How long have you had this fish? Has the tank been treated with a wormer, like Prazi-Pro? Is this fish being bullied? We need a real description of the fish's behavior and history, and you should probably quarantine the fish.

Also,
I completely agree that the nitrates are not the problem because I don't think I have gotten them below 20 before. And I like keeping my tank at 80-82, I am not sure why, but that was just my preference and everything did fine so far. Thats why I came on here to see if I could get some other opinions. Thanks for taking the time to try and help!

 

[MrTuskfish]

Also,
I completely agree that the nitrates are not the problem because I don't think I have gotten them below 20 before. And I like keeping my tank at 80-82, I am not sure why, but that was just my preference and everything did fine so far. Thats why I came on here to see if I could get some other opinions. Thanks for taking the time to try and help!

I wouldn't have mentioned the nitrate; but I assumed the tank was a FOWLR, its unusual to see a harlequin tusk in a reef. They will scarf any invert, won't bother coral, though.

 

[wnehez]

I wouldn't have mentioned the nitrate; but I assumed the tank was a FOWLR, its unusual to see a harlequin tusk in a reef. They will scarf any invert, won't bother coral, though.

Good assumption, however, it is not a FOWLR. It is a reef tank. He has not touched any of my CUC... yet... Haha, but he is definately worth losing some crabs for. He has been my favorit for a long time and like I said, I finally said OK and got one. Thats why im trying to remedy this problem ASAP.

 

[Painted skin]

Nitrate at 20 won't bother fish at all, 20ppm is actually on the low side for a FOWLR tank. Fish can handle nitrate at a much higher level than this. Nitrate is more of an invert problem, but excessively high nitrate (say >60-80ppm, can indicate a housekeeping problem. Temp of 80-82 isn't going to hurt anything either.
To the OP
An airstone doesn't put all those bubbles into the water; all it does is disturb the surface so gas exchange can take place. Any tank with decent flow and circulation doesn't have an an oxygen problem. I have no idea what your friend means by a "nitrogen" problem. A dead ,flow area in the LR wouldn't bother a fish like this.

All that said; I doubt that water conditions have anything to do with your tusk. Sometimes, we want to blame everything on the water. I don't know if the white spot is related to the other problems the fish is having. Does the spot look infected? Is it growing? How long have you had this fish? Has the tank been treated with a wormer, like Prazi-Pro? Is this fish being bullied? We need a real description of the fish's behavior and history, and you should probably quarantine the fish.

I don't know what part of my post you gathered I claimed it was the nitrate or temp that was the cause. Sure, the nitrate and temp is not a factor here, I've had my tank at higher levels back when I was a noobie with no ill effects. It's was merely something I'd noticed as an ex reefer with SPS as a habit I always try to keep nitrate around 10 or under and my temp 76-79 which is the ideal range for most fish and corals. As well as it was "IMO".

 

[MrTuskfish]

I don't know what part of my post you gathered I claimed it was the nitrate or temp that was the cause. Sure, the nitrate and temp is not a factor here, I've had my tank at higher levels back when I was a noobie with no ill effects. It's was merely something I'd noticed as an ex reefer with SPS as a habit I always try to keep nitrate around 10 or under and my temp 76-79 which is the ideal range for most fish and corals. As well as it was "IMO".

Yeah, I just assumed it was a FOWLR until it was cleared up. So many folks just don't know that nitrates are generally harmless to fish That I may pull the trigger too quickly. I've seen people spend a fortune on custom built de-nitrators without realizing that nitrate was a reef issue, not a fish problem. Same with the temp comment. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Painted skin]

No worries, confusion or misunderstanding does happen a lot in forums.